Gadget grunts
Men may not be quite the tech-sperts they believe themselves to be, according to a new survey by Gadget Helpline.
The firm - which counts 120,000 subscribers in the UK, with most over the age of 35 - said it had surveyed some 75,000 calls made to its helpline between 25 September and 23 October 2009. It discovered that an astounding 64 per cent of its male callers hadn't even bothered to read the manual (RTFM) for their piece of tricky tech, as opposed to only 24 per cent of women who made the call for help.
Likewise, 12 per cent of men had made the typically ‘dumb blonde' mistake of not checking whether their problem device was turned on or plugged in, compared to just seven per cent of women who made that basic error.
The survey did say, however, that women spent 32 per cent longer on the phone to the helpline staff, but the staff - whose average age is around 21 years old, and who obviously don't mind a bit of a natter - said they preferred talking to the fairer sex.
Men, according to the survey's results, still possessed that Neanderthal-ish urge to treat tech like something to be understood and conquered for conquering's sake, while the lady-folk were much more motivated to use devices and appliances that were actually useful to them in everyday life.
More general findings were that Monday mornings and Boxing day were the helpline's busiest hours, whilst syncing devices up to each other was the most common issue.
Gadget Helpline also believes that even though devices aren't becoming too much more complicated, people's expectations about their abilities are increasing, leaving many with a bitter taste of disappointment.
For instance, while only about five per cent of appliances which get to purchasers have some kind of manufacturing fault, a whopping 15-20 per cent get returned to the shop anyway.
All boils down to performance expectations, really, eh? Just like in the real-world battle of the sexes.
